Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon

Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) is recognized as a viable strategy to manage stormwater and flood risk, and its multifunctionality may further enrich society through the provision of multiple cobenefits that extend far beyond the hydrosphere. Portland, Oregon, is an internationally renowned leader i...

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Main Authors: O’Donnell, Emily C., Thorne, Colin R., Yeakley, J. Alan, Chan, Faith Ka Shun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/61344/
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author O’Donnell, Emily C.
Thorne, Colin R.
Yeakley, J. Alan
Chan, Faith Ka Shun
author_facet O’Donnell, Emily C.
Thorne, Colin R.
Yeakley, J. Alan
Chan, Faith Ka Shun
author_sort O’Donnell, Emily C.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) is recognized as a viable strategy to manage stormwater and flood risk, and its multifunctionality may further enrich society through the provision of multiple cobenefits that extend far beyond the hydrosphere. Portland, Oregon, is an internationally renowned leader in the implementation of BGI and showcases many best practice examples. Nonetheless, a range of interdisciplinary barriers and uncertainties continue to cloud decision making and impede wider implementation of BGI. In this paper, we synthesize research conducted by the “Clean Water for All” (CWfA) research project and demonstrate that interdisciplinary evaluation of the benefits of Portland’s BGI, focusing on green street bioswales and the East Lents Floodplain Restoration Project, is essential to address biophysical and sociopolitical barriers. Effective interdisciplinary approaches require sustained interaction and collaboration to integrate disciplinary expertise toward a common problem-solving purpose, and strong leadership from researchers adapt at spanning disciplinary boundaries. While the disciplinary differences in methodologies were embraced in the CWfA project, and pivotal to providing evidence of the disparate benefits of multifunctional BGI, cross-disciplinary engagement, knowledge coproduction, and data exchanges during the research process were of paramount importance to reduce the potential for fragmentation and ensure research remained integrated. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of the American Water Resources Association published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Water Resources Association
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spelling nottingham-613442020-08-19T02:14:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/61344/ Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon O’Donnell, Emily C. Thorne, Colin R. Yeakley, J. Alan Chan, Faith Ka Shun Blue-Green Infrastructure (BGI) is recognized as a viable strategy to manage stormwater and flood risk, and its multifunctionality may further enrich society through the provision of multiple cobenefits that extend far beyond the hydrosphere. Portland, Oregon, is an internationally renowned leader in the implementation of BGI and showcases many best practice examples. Nonetheless, a range of interdisciplinary barriers and uncertainties continue to cloud decision making and impede wider implementation of BGI. In this paper, we synthesize research conducted by the “Clean Water for All” (CWfA) research project and demonstrate that interdisciplinary evaluation of the benefits of Portland’s BGI, focusing on green street bioswales and the East Lents Floodplain Restoration Project, is essential to address biophysical and sociopolitical barriers. Effective interdisciplinary approaches require sustained interaction and collaboration to integrate disciplinary expertise toward a common problem-solving purpose, and strong leadership from researchers adapt at spanning disciplinary boundaries. While the disciplinary differences in methodologies were embraced in the CWfA project, and pivotal to providing evidence of the disparate benefits of multifunctional BGI, cross-disciplinary engagement, knowledge coproduction, and data exchanges during the research process were of paramount importance to reduce the potential for fragmentation and ensure research remained integrated. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of the American Water Resources Association published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Water Resources Association 2020-07-20 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/61344/1/ilovepdf_merged%20%287%29.pdf O’Donnell, Emily C., Thorne, Colin R., Yeakley, J. Alan and Chan, Faith Ka Shun (2020) Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association . ISSN 1093-474X Blue-Green Cities; Blue-Green Infrastructure; Green Infrastructure; Portland Oregon; Stormwater; Sustainable Urban Flood Risk Management http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12854 doi:10.1111/1752-1688.12854 doi:10.1111/1752-1688.12854
spellingShingle Blue-Green Cities; Blue-Green Infrastructure; Green Infrastructure; Portland Oregon; Stormwater; Sustainable Urban Flood Risk Management
O’Donnell, Emily C.
Thorne, Colin R.
Yeakley, J. Alan
Chan, Faith Ka Shun
Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon
title Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon
title_full Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon
title_fullStr Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon
title_short Sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in Portland, Oregon
title_sort sustainable flood risk and stormwater management in blue‐green cities; an interdisciplinary case study in portland, oregon
topic Blue-Green Cities; Blue-Green Infrastructure; Green Infrastructure; Portland Oregon; Stormwater; Sustainable Urban Flood Risk Management
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/61344/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/61344/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/61344/